Veterans get warm welcome at new State Veterans Home

Thursday

Four veterans have moved into the new home dedicated to armed services heroes in Kinston

John Narron will be enjoying his coconut birthday cake in his brand new home this year.

The retired lieutenant colonel of the U.S. Air Force turns 85 today and will celebrate it with his family at a dining room at the new State Veterans Home in Kinston.

The facility has been prepped for residents since a ribbon-cutting ceremony in December, and the first one moved in March 27.

Bill Daughtridge, the state Secretary of Administration, officially welcomed the four residents of the new facility on Thursday.

“North Carolina built this new home for our country’s heroes,” he said during a press conference in the 111,000 square-foot building’s lobby. “We need to provide them with what it takes to repay them for what they’ve given to us. We feel like this facility is a great example.”

The $13 million project broke ground in 2007. There are 100 beds at the home, which are expected to be filled in roughly a year’s time.

Daughtridge said it was a spacious facility compared to the three other veteran care facilities in North Carolina. He said he was impressed by the amenities during a tour.

The features were similar reasons the Kinston home won over Narron’s wife, Marie.

“When we came to tour the place, I told (John), ‘You go back home, I’ll stay here,’ ” she recalled her reactions after she and her family toured the place. “It’s like a fancy motel. What I really like about it is you can see outside with all the windows around.”

John Narron moved in Monday. He lived at home in Greenville, but with only a part-time caregiver. He has to be lifted in and out of bed, has had a few strokes and suffers from dementia, his family said.

“We decided this would be best if we can get him in here,” Marie Narron said.

The couple has three children, and one was in attendance with her husband at Thursday’s event.

“When he was in the military, we got to live in a lot of places,” said Narron’s daughter, Amy Barber. “We got to be in a lot of neat countries and travel around a lot. It was a good education experience for his children.”

The family lives in Greenville and Barber said they will visit as often as possible.

The State Veterans Home allows visitors 24 hours a day.

Although designed for the nation’s veterans, there are some instances where eligible spouses, widow or widowers and Gold Starparents — parents who’ve lost a child in active military service during war, can reside in the facility.

“Current federal regulations allow us to have up to 25 percent of the population here to be non-veterans in those categories,” said Tim Wipperman, director of the North Carolina Division of Veterans Affairs.

He said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs picks up a significant cost of the residential fees and care and many factors of the new home will provide growth for Kinston.

“When you bring jobs, it’s always good for the local community,” Daughtridge said about economic growth. “And of course you have visitors coming in to see their loved ones here also. It creates more traffic of people coming into Kinston.”

When the 175 job positions of the home are filled, a bulk of employees will be from the area.

Bonnie Ard, originally from Goldsboro, eyed the new building as it was being constructed and finally applied for a job there. She is now the director of health services.

“I have worked in many nursing homes in North Carolina and it is the most beautiful that I have ever seen,” said Ard, who has worked in long-term health care for 13 years. “It’s a much needed service. There’s nothing in Eastern North Carolina for veterans.”

The new State Veterans Home is the only one east of the I-95, and there are 800,000 veterans in the state. There are facilities in Fayetteville, Salisbury and Black Mountain, which is the closest in similarity to the Kinston building.

“This will allow the veterans to stay closer to home and in a better facility,” Ard said. “I think the veterans and the community will truly be proud.”

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at Jessika.Morgan@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter at JessikaMorgan.

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